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“A recovery team was sent out,” Kota said. “Nathan and I were there before dawn to identify where the car went down. They’ll find it.”
“Will it be bad?” I asked. “Can it be fixed?”
Victor spoke, “I may have to get creative with what happened to it. Or find another one and just change the plate somehow without my parents knowing.”
I felt bad for Victor. He’d have to figure out how to not let his parents know about what really happened to the car. “Maybe you can use Mr. Blackbourne’s for now? Maybe they won’t notice?”
“We could,” Victor said. “I might do that tonight. Not that they pay attention too much. I could switch plates for now. But I’ll have a problem later if anyone checks the VIN number.”
“At least until we see if we can get your car fixed,” Kota said. “And Mr. Blackbourne will need a replacement.”
“Another reason for a house,” Gabriel said. “We can switch cars whenever we want.”
“I don’t need any more reasons,” Victor said.
“Another reason,” Gabriel said. He held up a couple of fingers, like he was ready to count off these reasons. “No running out the door without breakfast just to avoid Erica.”
“I’m not avoiding her,” Kota said. “We just don’t have the time this morning.”
“That’s avoiding.”
“Where’s North car?” I asked.
“North reported it stolen,” Kota said. “We don’t know where it is.”
My heart sunk. “We never found it?” I’d left the necklace he’d given me behind the seat. Not to mention he loved his Jeep. I’d hoped Volto ditched it like he had with Mr. Blackbourne’s car.
Kota shook his head but looked back at me again. “Don’t worry. It’ll turn up.”
“Maybe,” Gabriel said, sitting back again and crossing his arms. “If Volto didn’t sink that one, too.”
“If we don’t find it, we’ll get another one,” Kota said. “At this point, we’ll probably need some extra cars.”
Internally, I was laughing at myself. It wasn’t a good laugh, more something odd and out of frustration. A few days ago, I was on bed rest. Today was day two of being allowed back, and it was already wild. And who knew what would happen today. Volto was back. We were down two vehicles. Our mission last night seemed to have failed completely.
Maybe they thought nothing of the cars they needed to replace, but we needed to be more careful. He was probably right about that. Cars we could get. We couldn’t get another Nathan. He could have been seriously hurt last night.
It was really one more reason to get everything settled. Mr. Hendricks. Volto, if we could. Although, I found it odd that Volto was more interested in our activities around the school.
For weeks, we’d been away, and he had stopped. Why did he seem to go inactive and then come back now?
The big question was left hanging open. “Did we find out what was in the boxes going out? And what they brought in?”
“Food,” Kota said. “Just food. It seemed like similar supplies as well.”
“What? Why?”
“We’re trying to figure out why they were swapped. North ended up in a warehouse on the other side of town. It’s hard to explain and I don’t know the full details. We need to get to Mr. Blackbourne and find out.”
Another group meeting. They had more of those than I realized but I knew why now. And I realized they’d probably had a lot before I’d been allowed to join them.
We were safe now, that was good. “Kota?”
“Yeah?”
“You didn’t tell the people you were on the phone with just now about Danielle. Didn’t she want out of school, too?”
“I don’t know how to ask about that without her parents getting involved. Her situation is different. We may need to put her into testing. See if she can qualify for some sort of local private school. Marie’s free to leave the school on her own, but we don’t want to tell her. A homeschool arrangement will give her mainly what she wants.”
“Good idea,” I said.
“Nathan is going to get them both to come in today,” Gabriel said.
I yawned again. I didn’t mean to, but it popped out of me. “Should I change in the car?” I asked. “Before we show up?”
The others looked at each other and Gabriel shrugged. “Can you do it?”
I opened the bag, finding the skirt and top and jacket stuffed inside. They were only slightly wrinkled but still appeared clean. The skirt was easy enough to put on and slide the pants off underneath. I left the tank shirt on and put the white shirt on to replace the sweater. “I’ll carry the jacket,” I said.
Victor and Kota had ignored me while I dressed. It was Gabriel that occasionally looked my way, but he seemed more concerned with monitoring cars and whatever we were passing by, in case anyone looked in.
Once I finished dressing, I combed my fingers through my hair and then blinked rapidly, trying to remember where I left it. “I don’t have my clip.”
“Just wear it down,” Gabriel said. “There wasn’t one in the trailer. You use the same one all the time.”
“I think I left it in the bed,” I said. “Or next to it. I forgot to grab it.”
Kota looked back this time, at my hair and then at the bag. “Do we need to get you more than one?”
“I had a few. I’m down to the one.” I nudged Gabriel with an elbow. “He’s got a stash somewhere.”
“What are you talking about?” Gabriel asked with a sheepish grin. “Luke takes them all. I don’t have any.”
“I don’t have one,” Kota said.
“Me, either,” Victor said. “Sorry, princess. Do they sell them at—” He paused mid-sentence and leaned toward Kota, looking past him and through the passenger window.
The rest of us turned our attention.
We were in front of the school. The lane was a little congested and Victor had slowed to a crawl with everyone else. The lane split just on school property, going to the front of the school and around a flagpole to loop back. It often served as a drop off point, as it circled back to the road next to the teacher’s lot.
But the loop had been cut off by police cars.
And dead center, parked next to the flagpole, was North’s Jeep. I was pretty sure it was his, at least. No one else at school drove a black four-door Wrangler. We’d have to get closer, ma
ybe check the plate to confirm, but it was far too much of a coincidence.
Everyone in the car remained quiet. Several cop cars were parked in the lane as well. One was standing by the car, writing notes into a pad.
“North reported it stolen,” Victor said. “And it’s here? When did it show up?”
No one had an answer for him.
Kota pulled his phone out immediately and dialed. “Hey. We found North’s car. Actually, the police found it...”
There was a voice on the other end, but I couldn’t tell what he was saying.
“Should we turn around?” Kota asked. “No? Okay. Just checking. We’ll see you inside.” He turned off his phone and put it back into his pocket. “Mr. Blackbourne says go in as usual but...something’s up. He couldn’t say much.”
“North should have been notified they found it,” Victor said. “Did they call him?”
“Not as far as I know, but they might have just found it. Better to wait for them to call him.”
“Won’t they tow it?” Gabriel asked, turning around and looking forward. “It’s just parked where it shouldn’t be. And why are police around it?”
“I don’t know,” Kota said.
I turned in the seat, watching the cop that was writing things down. He was joined by another officer. His partner pulled out yellow tape and started circling the car with it.
“Guys?” I said, and I pointed back to North’s Jeep. “I don’t think he’s getting it back yet.”
Gabriel and Kota spun around. Victor looked over his shoulder but had to focus on the traffic. He readjusted the mirrors to look.
The first officer was helping pull yellow tape around the car on top of thin poles I hadn’t noticed before now.
“Why are they blocking it off with caution tape?” I asked.
Gabriel’s expression turned grim, and his tone darkly serious. “Because it’s a crime scene.”
No Time for Reluctance
Nathan
Nathan had returned to his own house just before dawn. Outside of the watchful eye of Jessica and Erica, he relaxed a bit. It sucked to feel that way. Now it wasn’t just him getting questioned, but also Kota and the others.
